More than 3,000 people paid tribute to veteran sportscaster Pete Taylor at Hilton Coliseum Sunday.

Many of them left with smiles on their faces, which is the way it often was when Pete was alive, head football coach Dan McCarney said.

“You’d always walk away from Pete with a smile on your face,” McCarney said.

Taylor passed away Wednesday in Iowa City after a brain hemorrhage following surgery to treat complications from a stroke. He was 57.

A flower arrangement sat where Taylor called play-by-play for ISU basketball for 33 years. He also did radio broadcasts for ISU football during that time span and was known as the “voice of the Cyclones.”

Kevin Cooney, who knew Taylor from his time at KCCI-TV Channel 8 in Des Moines, where Taylor was sports director for 22 years, spoke about the competitiveness that was always running through Taylor’s blood. He said Taylor helped invent matchbook tabletop football at the station. That evolved into various other contests Taylor had devised, including one to see who could start and stop a stopwatch the fastest.

“Being a friend of Pete’s was not an exclusive club,” Cooney said. “Today is an example of that. Thousands of us were friends of Pete.”

Cooney said the last few days have been tough for all of those who knew Taylor, but set the tone for a celebration of Taylor’s life — rather than a grieving session.

“After the initial shock, sadness and tears … the stories started,” Cooney said.

Many applauded and laughed after ISU head basketball coach Larry Eustachy shared two of his best memories of Taylor. Eustachy apologized for calling the Taylor home so many times, but said he’ll never forget those conversations.

On one occasion, Eustachy called Taylor and began by asking him how he was doing. Taylor told him their dog had just swallowed a bar of soap and his wife Judy was holding the dog down trying to get it out.

“If we don’t get it out, there are going to be soap bubbles coming out of his ass,” Taylor told Eustachy.

“So you’re saying it’s a bad time to talk,” Eustachy responded.

Even before Eustachy began his second story, he had to control his own laughter. He said he and Taylor were working out together once with Taylor on the treadmill.

“He’d set it for a half-mile in about an hour,” Eustachy recalled.

Eustachy said somehow Taylor fell, but the treadmill kept going and started pulling Taylor’s pants off.

Eustachy said he acted as if he didn’t notice the incident, but was watching out of the corner of his eye.

He said Taylor wasn’t wearing underwear or a jock strap.

Eustachy said he called Pete’s wife, Judy, later that evening to tell her she deserved a medal for having to wake up to what he just saw every morning.

Video highlights of some of Taylor’s humorous and memorable moments were played on the video screen between each speaker.

McCarney, who was en route to Iowa City when Taylor died, said Taylor was a great friend to him through thick and thin.

The eighth-year head coach said that, along with his partner Eric Heft, Taylor helped make the sportscasting team one of the best around.

“I always thought the hell with [former Fox team John] Madden and [Pat] Summerall — we’ve got the best here with Taylor and Heft,” McCarney said.

McCarney also announced that “P.T.” will be stitched into all of the 2003 ISU football jerseys in memory of Taylor.

The final person to take the podium was Heft, whose relationship with Taylor blossomed after his first varsity game was also Taylor’s first basketball broadcast.

With a cardinal-and-gold ribbon attached to his lapel, Heft spoke about the first ISU football broadcast he did with Taylor. It was in Iowa City and the opponent was the Hawkeyes.

After Iowa roared out to a large halftime advantage, Heft looked over to Taylor in the Kinnick Stadium press box.

“I said, ‘Man, what the hell did you get me into,’ ” Heft said. “And he said, ‘Hey, if I have to sit here and watch this blankety-blank crap, then you just sit there and watch it too.’ “